Obama: I can't do 'Jedi mind meld'

3/1/13 12:22 PM EST

President Barack Obama, seeking to illustrate Friday that he has done all he can to avert sequester cuts, invoked a few memorable analogies.

First there was one from the movie "Star Wars" -- although he mixed up his space dramas a bit.

"I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that's been floating around Washington: That somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree that I'm presenting a fair deal -- the fact that they don't take it, means that I should somehow do a Jedi mindmeld with these folks and convince them to do what's right," he said. "Well, they're elected. We have a constitutional system of government."

The "mind meld" actually comes from "Star Trek," while Jedis are from "Star Wars" and what they did was a "mind trick."

"Ultimately, it's a choice they make. And this idea that somehow there's a secret formula or secret sauce to get Speaker Boehner or Mitch McConnell to say, 'You know what, Mr. President, You're right. We should close tax loopholes for the well-off and well-connected in exchange for some serious entitlement reform and spending cuts to programs we don't need.'

"You know, I think if there was a secret way to do that, I would have tried it, I would have done it."